A hair washing has been known as one of the typical person's head cares. In the hairdressing and beauty industry, the laborious head and/or hair washing has been desired to be automated. Also in the medicare industry, the laborious hair washing services for the inpatients have been expected to be automated.
There has been known an apparatus disclosed in JP 2001-149133 (A), for example, for washing person's hair automatically, which is schematically illustrated in FIG. 44. As shown in the drawing, the automatic hair washing apparatus comprises an arcuate washing unit 1 or nozzle unit. The washing unit 1 comprises a number of comb-like projections 2 mounted at regular intervals on an inner arcuate surface thereof and a number of hair washing nozzles 1a each provided between the neighborhood projections 2. Each projection 2 comprises a scalp washing nozzle 2a supported at an end thereof. The nozzles 1a and 2a are fluidly connected through liquid passages (not shown) mounted within the interior of the washing unit 1 to the switching unit 3 for supplying the liquid selectively to either or both of the nozzles 1a and 2a so that the washing agent or liquid is ejected through either or both of the nozzles 1a and 2a toward the scalp and hair for the washing thereof.
The washing unit 1 is designed so that, by the driving of reciprocating drive unit 4, the washing unit 1 moves in a direction indicated by an arrow 4c through a rack 4a and a pinion 4b. This arrangement allows the washing unit 1 to broaden a scalp/hair washing range thereof. The washing unit 1, the switching unit 3, and the reciprocating drive unit 4 are supported by a unit support 5. The unit support 5 is designed so as to be driven by a rotational drive unit 6 through a gear assembly 8 to rotate about the support shaft 7, allowing the washing unit 1 to wash the entirety of person's scalp/hair. According to the hair washing apparatus so constructed, the switching unit 3, the reciprocating drive unit 4, and rotational drive unit 6 are driven in combination for the scalp/hair washing. Accordingly, person's scalp/hair is wholly washed automatically, which eliminates laborious human works.
Disadvantageously, the above-described automatic washing apparatus employs a single washing unit, to which nozzles are substantially fixed, for washing person's scalp/hair, which causes that person's scalp/hair is not fully washed in the case of differing in the shapes of the washing unit and person's head and, as a result, washing effect is not fully achieved.
The present invention is to solve this problem and provide an automatic head care apparatus and an automatic head washing apparatus for caring person's head in an effective and reliable manner in accordance with the shape of person's head in any shape of person's head.